Morpho South Africa, a subsidiary of Safran Identity & Security, has signed a contract with Botswana Police Service (BPS) for an upgrade and rationalisation of an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) into a single, multi-biometric and multi-use new-generation platform.

The new system will use both fingerprint and facial recognition and will serve all the identification requirements of various government departments.

According to the contract, Morpho South Africa will deliver liveScan and cardScan stations as well as mobile handheld devices and will also be responsible for the maintenance of the system for three years.

Paul Jeremias, Managing Director, Morpho South Africa said, "Not only it is more cost-effective but also it is a vital facilitator of increasing national security and enabling e-government services."

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BPS spokesperson Assistant Police Commissioner Witness Boseja did not go into detail about the project, but told local media that acquiring the new system is a national security issue.

"Yes, it's common for such equipment to be used by the police. I cannot at this point disclose which company we have a contract with, at what cost and how we are going to benefit from the system because disclosing such information to the public can be risky to national security," said Boseja.

According to Safran, BPS has regularly chosen the company's products or solutions to meet its requirements since 1998.

"This will be one of the most advanced and complex systems ever delivered in terms of integration with multiple systems and the segregation and security of the data of each department," Jeremias added.